My Sam
by Scribbler
Summary: [one shot] There was a challenge for fanauthors to write 'their' version of an Xcharacter. This is the result. Also created because the world needs more Cannonball fanfic. Seriously.


Disclaimer ~ Marvel and KidsWB own the character, I just write about him. Although I do believe that social services would have stripped custody from either of us long ago were he actually real…  
  
A/N ~ I found an old, old fan challenge asking people to write 'their' versions of certain X-characters. It was a comic challenge and long since ended, but the idea so appealed to me that I adapted it to Evo and my own requirements. Thus, I give you my take on the New Mutant Sam Guthrie, a.k.a. Cannonball. As such, I remind you again that this is not necessarily your Sam, so don't pick on me if he doesn't quite match how you perceive him. This is the Sam *I* write about when he sneaks into my fanfics – nothing more, nothing less.  
  
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My Sam…  
  
… Misses his father like crazy and sometimes writes him letters, but has yet to follow Kurt's example and 'mail' them by burying them in his favourite part of the grounds. Instead, he keeps them safely tucked away underneath the bottom draw of his bedside cabinet.  
  
… Thinks Lance would've made a damn good X-Man if he'd stuck around. Wouldn't mention the idea around Scott, though.  
  
… Wishes Kitty would quit with the fad dieting and realise how pretty she already is.   
  
… Hates that he invariably turns out to be the responsible one, but is too frightened about what almost happened with the X-Jet joyride to try the alternative. That he follows Bobby into one harebrained scheme after another is more because he's worried what would happen if he didn't than because he thinks it'd be fun to put his life in danger for kicks.   
  
… Is more scared of an angry Kitty than an angry Wolverine. And yes, he's been privy to both.   
  
… Listens to Angry Youth music when other people are around, but brings out his sister's 'borrowed' country CDs when alone. Would never admit to a soul that he prefers Dolly Parton to the Smashing Pumpkins, but isn't above discussing the finer points of Shania Twain in public.  
  
… Sometimes wonders where he'd be right now if he weren't a mutant. Isn't filled with confidence at the attitude of his hometown towards an outed Mutantkind, though, and thinking that in another world he might have been that way himself drives him to junk food and bad TV to clear his head.   
  
… Suffers periodically from insomnia.  
  
… Has been riding and taking care of horses since he could crawl; first at the local stable, then on the farm his family moved to when his father's lungs got bad from coal dust inhalation. Occasionally stands out in the mansion grounds picturing how long it would take to circle the place at a canter – a gallop if he's feeling especially penned in.   
  
… Out of principle, would rather freeze than use a coal fire.  
  
… Believes there is very little in life that can't be made better by a thick wedge of homemade cornbread – especially if it's still warm from the oven.   
  
… Once took Roberto up on a bet that he couldn't eat sixteen hotdogs in five minutes. He couldn't.   
  
… Once took Roberto up on a bet that he couldn't fit ten pickled onions in his mouth at once. He could, and is now fifteen dollars better off because of it.  
  
… Is sick of the strange looks thrown his way when he slips and refers to eggs as 'cackleberries'.   
  
… Sometimes thinks he's afflicted with Inner Tourettes Syndrome, because what's going through his head sure as hell isn't what's coming out of his mouth.   
  
… Loathes his clumsiness, and the fact that being tall makes him extra klutzy. Wakes up each morning wondering whether he'll make it past breakfast without tripping over his own feet, and who will laugh first when he does.   
  
… Is *still* finding unpopped popcorn in his clothes and bed-sheets from the time that prank on Amara backfired.   
  
… Has a thing for Rahne. Has always had a thing for Rahne. Will possibly always have a thing for Rahne, even if it's never acted upon – quite possible considering the thousands of miles between Muir Island and either Bayville or Kentucky.  
  
… Misses Rahne and Jubilee with an almost physical pain. Late night Sci-Fi Channel and early morning Saturday cartoons just aren't the same without someone likeminded to share them.  
  
… Still bears some residual bitterness towards Bolliver Trask and the Sentinel Project, but has since come to terms with the fact that things happened the way they happened, and for all he wishes he could, it's impossible to change what's already been and done.   
  
… Doesn't encourage Ray's cynicism, but sometimes wonders like him whether Xavier really regrets turning a bunch of impressionable children into a team of spandex-suited crime-fighters.   
  
… Would like to be given more credit for his status as a member of the X-Men, and not always relegated to part of the all-inclusive moniker 'new recruits'. Some of the alpha team were younger and less experienced than him when they joined, yet they progressed far faster and with, he thinks, more leniency than either he or his peers have.   
  
… Wishes his little sister Paige wasn't so enthralled with the idea of mutants and the x-gene. Seems to him that she was far more enthusiastic about the whole palaver than he when he turned up positive for the extra DNA, and he worries that her total inability to see the downside of mutations will get her into trouble with her less-than-accepting friends.   
  
… Would like to go home visiting more than he does, but worries that his extended absence will mean that he no longer has a useful place there. Has no desire to be a fifth wheel and/or a nuisance, no matter how much he misses his family.   
  
… Doesn't miss Evan as much as the alpha team do, considering Evan never liked to associate with the 'newbies' if he could help it in case his age got him moved to the beta squad.   
  
… Doesn't appreciate the name 'X-Babies', even in jest.  
  
… Staunchly believes that Shakespeare's ghost whispers in Ms. Vasquez's ear during English class, telling her to set the most difficult homework known to man.  
  
… Can grudgingly see Principal Kelly's point of view vis-à-vis mutants in school and the safety of other students, just doesn't hold with the man taking things so far as to expel people for something they didn't ask for, can't help and often don't want.  
  
… Wishes Rogue were a little more open so he could talk about the South without fear of it descending into a civil war debate.   
  
… Likes to cook. His cheddar chowder with grits is a reluctant favourite when he's on dinner duty – mainly because nobody was originally willing to try food with 'grits' in the title and they still don't want to lose face by admitting they like it.   
  
… Spent the first few weeks at the Institute helping Tabby and Bobby explain the finer points of American living to Amara. Still doesn't understand why she blushed so much when Tabby mentioned Victoria's Secrets, though.  
  
… Once helped his mother deliver a sickly calf when the vet got caught in the bad weather and couldn't make it to the farm. When the cow died the calf attached itself to him, and so he spent the majority of the school year raising her with the assistance of his own old baby bottle and the mat in front of the ancient kiln that Paige now uses to bake her pottery. Called the calf 'Miffy', and was exceedingly sad when she eventually had to be sold.  
  
… Thinks that blind trust is a dangerous thing, and that faith is precious and should be earned.  
  
… Doesn't believe in rhetoric, and will not have confidence in anyone unwilling to back up their own beliefs if put to the test.   
  
… Still has nightmares about the Institute blowing up. However, it's not the being trapped with the timer ticking that bothers him, but the shiver-inducing look of hatred on Scott's face when he confronted Mystique afterwards. He always thought of Scott as the 'fearless leader', but that moment proved that he is as much human as the rest of them, and this thought is enough to shake his reliance on the judgment of all the senior team.   
  
… Occasionally has to look in the mirror and remind himself that under all the superpowers, covert superhero training and pro-human-mutant idioms, he's still a kid, with the all maturity and emotional capacity thereof. 


End file.
